Can we be real with you? Recently we received an email from Triple Crown Sports making clear their commitment for enforcing respect for umpires, and we applaud that wholeheartedly. The men and women in blue behind the plate and on the field calling the game we all love are often targets of abuse. You've heard it and seen it as we have. It's a problem.

Many umpires we've met have been players or coaches just like you, and most are parents just like you. Umpires do this work on the field because they love the game, just like us. We won't always agree with an umpire's decision, but let's always respect that the decision is theirs to make. Let it go and move on to the next play. Will you join us in supporting and respecting umpires across all of our venues? Let's hold each other accountable to that.

Central Georgia Umpires, lead by founder John Turner, is using HiCast Sports Network technology at East Cobb Baseball Complex to improve their game. We sat it on their annual Barry Suttle Memorial Camp for umpires to learn more about how they were using our solution to train new umpires and coach more experienced umpires. John uses our mobile app to make sure that his umpires are in place on the fields and reviews game footage as needed when tournament directors express issues or concerns. He shares highlights to visually communicate issues and positives to his team of umpires for coaching purposes.

The first person that I watched when I turned the cameras on was myself. It was a huge eye opener. It’s a great way to get yourself back in the groove... and a great tool to be able to show (my team of umpires) what they look like. Having the ability to see ourselves on TV really gives us a huge advantage on looking more professional and doing it the right way.

— John Turner, Founder of Central Georgia Umpires

John started playing baseball at age five. His father, JP Turner, an umpire for youth and high school baseball for more than 40 years helped foster John’s appreciation and understanding of the game. At age 15, John transitioned from player to umpire, following in his father and older brother’s footsteps. He’s been an umpire for the bulk of his career and founded Central Georgia Umpires to share his love for baseball and improve the quality of umpires in Georgia. The Central Georgia Umpires team of 100 umpires officiates all games at East Cobb Baseball Complex including Perfect Game and Triple Crown tournaments, and ECB-hosted events. They also umpire southeast regional collegiate showcases.

John shares that the most difficult part of being an umpire is similar to that of most leaders in that the role requires one to take full responsible for moving the game forward and communicating direction to the teams, while maintaining a good rapport with players, coaches and fans.

Most of us played the game with the same goal, which was to hit the game-winning run in the final game of the World Series. These kids today are trying to live that same dream. For some kids they’re going to get as close to that dream as they ever will, so they deserve to have every game officiated like it’s game seven of the World Series. That’s what I like doing. I feel like I’m giving back to the game when I’m out there.”

— John Turner, Founder of Central Georgia Umpires

His advice to parents and fans on how to better support the game? “Read the rulebook and understand how it’s applied to the game. Some people look for loopholes to gain an advantage, but it’s our job to make sure neither team gains an advantage so that the game can be played fairly by everyone.”